Architectural Metalwork – Special Projects
Was your structural steel project an extraordinary feat of collective design and engineering – perhaps truly unconventional in its form, artistically ambitious in its scope, or uniquely challenging due to its extreme complexity, innovative purpose, or the collaborative spirit required to bring it to life?
This distinct category is for the true game-changers: projects where dedicated teams of designers, engineers, fabricators, and artists have pushed structural steel beyond its ordinary applications, solving complex puzzles with profound ingenuity and teamwork to deliver unique, often one-of-a-kind, structures that inspire or serve a highly specialized function. It celebrates the synergy that turns bold visions into steel reality.
Who should nominate?
Steel fabricators, innovative structural engineering firms, avant-garde architectural practices, artists working with steel as a primary medium, and specialist constructors who have demonstrably partnered to realise structural steel projects that are novel, technically demanding, or artistically driven and don’t fit neatly into standard categories.
Eligibility & Key considerations
Your work on the nominated special structural steel project must have been completed or a very significant, identifiable phase accomplished between 1st July 2023 and 30th June 2025.
The principal structural steelwork must have been produced by a registered steel fabrication business based on the island of Ireland (the final erected location can be worldwide).
Entries must vividly emphasise the unique nature of the structural challenge and its intended application, the innovative and collaborative design and engineering solutions developed by the team, any advanced analytical or fabrication techniques employed, and the exceptional quality of workmanship and precision execution by all parties involved from concept through to completion.
What the Judges are looking for
Quality of the end results in terms of structural performance, aesthetic finish, and fitness for purpose; High degree of Innovation and Technical Execution (particularly in bespoke problem-solving and complex geometry); Project Complexity, the bespoke nature of the challenge, and the ingenuity of the steel solution; Depth and effectiveness of Collaboration among all specialist contributors, including artists, specialist engineers, fabricators, and installers; Uniqueness and originality of the structural concept and the success of its final realisation.
Submission Requirements
- Nomination Type
- Business Name
- Project Title (e.g., “The [Name] Sculptural Pavilion” or “[Event] Bespoke Viewing Structure”)
- Project Location (or context of use)
- Project Team (Essential where available): Detail the key individuals and firms involved: Concept Designer/Artist; Lead Structural Engineer; Specialist Fabricator(s); Main Contractor/Installer (if distinct); Material Scientists/Consultants (if applicable); Client/Commissioner. Clarify each role.
- Project Summary (max 50 words)
- Full Project Description (max 1,000 words): Tell us the story of the project. Include details such as explaining the project’s origin and objective, the unique structural or design brief, the engineering challenges encountered, how steel was chosen and why, innovative design approaches, special fabrication or erection techniques, and the collaborative process.
- Why Should It Win?
- Project Images (min 2, max 5 high-quality)
- Company Logo (PNG)
- Optional: Design analysis extracts, fabrication process photos, installation videos.
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